14 Andre Agassi

IN THE final accounting of Andre Agassi's career, a mere recordbook will be insufficient. He will require motion pictures. Scoresand results do not convey the shades of amber in his flowing hair, orthe effect on whole continents when he finally cut most of it off.The aces and winners don't express the mesmerizing transformations,from teen brat to marquee idol, from indolent fat boy to earnestchampion.Agassi is always in motion, either on the way up or on the waydown. When he fails, he fails big (like when he lost to 61st-rankedThomas Enqvist in the first round of the '93 U.S. Open), and when hewins, he wins big (as when, in 1992, he made Wimbledon his firstmajor tournament victory). Through it all he has been the mostcompelling personality in his sport, the man who took tennis off thesports pages and put it into the gossip columns. When he dated, hewent for Barbra Streisand; when he fell in love, it was with BrookeShields. (And when his girlfriends sat in his box at the All EnglandClub or the National Tennis Center, it stirred worldwide curiosity.)When, to protect his privacy, he stopped flying on commercialairlines, he didn't just charter a plane, he bought a 10-seatLockheed JetStar. And when he finally got a haircut, he didn't justget a trim, he sent a razor up his head like a lawn mower.His bad-boy behavior has been just as flamboyant. He used to stockhis plane with M&Ms and explain that a cheeseburger contained ''yourfour basic food groups'' and was therefore an acceptable part of anathlete's diet. There was the night he left the theater in London''at halftime,'' and the time he called Philippe Chatrier, head ofthe French Tennis Federation, ''a bozo.''But for every vulgarity he has uttered, Agassi has offered agracious gesture. In the final of the 1994 Lipton Championships, hewould not let officials default his opponent, Pete Sampras, whenSampras came down with the stomach flu on the morning of their match.Rather, he asked that the match be delayed until Sampras hadrecovered. When Agassi lost to Sampras, he did so without complaint.Last year he established a nonprofit organization that encouragesyoung athletes to stay in school.The quality of Agassi's tennis has seemed to rise and fall withhis mood and with his variable work ethic. Early on, he admits, his''accomplishments did not live up to'' his wealth and popularity.That single Wimbledon title seemed a small return on his gigantictalent. ''I let certain years slip by,'' he says. But a turning pointcame in 1993, when his career was threatened by tendinitis in hisright wrist, which resulted in surgery and caused him to miss much ofthe season. During months of rehabilitation, Agassi contemplated theugly purplish scar that ran across his hand. When he returned to thecourt, he was a more serious player. He went on a low-fat diet,organized his ) finances and hired a workaholic coach in BradGilbert.Only time will tell if Agassi has made his final transformation.This current version is fit, tough and -- something altogether newfor him -- consistent. ''I have a commitment to persevere, no matterwhat,'' he says. By the end of the 1994 season, Agassi had the year'sbest record of any player against top-10 competition, had shot to No.2 in the world and had won the U.S. Open. Finally, the performancehad matched the charisma.